Randolph holding Commencement ceremony on May 11

Randolph College will hold its 2025 Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 11, at 9 a.m. in WildCat Stadium, after a day full of activities and traditions on Saturday. 

Activities officially kick off at 11 a.m. Saturday with Daisy Chain, followed by the Phi Beta Kappa Initiation Ceremony at 1:30 p.m. in Smith Memorial Building’s Alice Ashley Jack Room, a new Intercultural Baccalaureate, and the conferring of degrees for the College’s Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), Master of Arts in Education (MEd), and Master of Arts in Coaching and Sport Leadership (MACSL) programs. 

The MACSL ceremony will be held at noon in the Alice Ashley Jack Room, and the MAT and MEd ceremony is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. in Wimberly Recital Hall. 

The Intercultural Baccalaureate will be at 3 p.m. in Houston Memorial Chapel, followed by the Garden Party at 4:30 p.m. 

Geoffrey Kershner, chief executive officer for the Academy Center of the Arts, will be the Commencement speaker on Sunday. 

“Geoff is an outstanding young leader in our community whose commitment to transforming place through the arts has transformed Lynchburg,” said President Sue Ott Rowlands.

Kershner is also a founding member and former artistic director of Endstation Theatre Company. 

During his tenure, Endstation received the Rising Star award from the Virginians for the Arts and was honored with the City of Lynchburg’s Vice Mayor’s Award of Excellence.

Under his leadership at the Academy, the organization increased need-based scholarships for arts programming, grew its overall operating budget, and successfully completed a capital campaign for the historic theater restoration project, which reopened in 2018.

That same year, Kershner was named the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance’s “Young Professional to Watch.”

He was a member of the National Arts Strategies’ 2014-2015 Chief Executive Cohort, currently serves on the board of Virginians for the Arts, and is an advisor for the Radically Rural Conference’s arts track.

“Randolph College holds a special place in my heart—not only as the home of Endstation Theatre Company, which I founded, but as an institution that deeply values the arts, expression, and individualism,” Kershner said.

“Having had the privilege of teaching courses here in the past, I have witnessed firsthand the College’s commitment to fostering creativity and critical thinking. As a neighbor to this vibrant campus, I take great pride in seeing its impact on our community, and I especially admire that its leadership understands the power of the arts, with a president who is an artist herself. I am honored to celebrate this moment with the Randolph community.”

For more information about Commencement Weekend, visit www.randolphcollege.edu/commencement.